According to TapTechNews on June 27,综合性彭博社、CNBC reports, Amazon plans to open and launch an online store that sells low-cost clothing and home goods on its website, allowing Chinese sellers to directly ship to American consumers.
Amazon described this plan in a slide presented to its third-party Chinese seller website. According to the introduction, the new online mall is an independent section of the Amazon website. Currently, the mall is only open to invited sellers to deal with the rise of upstarts such as Temu (TapTechNews note: a foreign e-commerce platform under Pinduoduo) and Shein.
When asked about the plan, Amazon spokeswoman MariaBoschetti said: We are always exploring new ways to work with sales partners in order to delight our customers with more choices, lower prices, and greater convenience.
According to CNBC reports, Amazon's storefront will sell a series of unbranded goods, and many of these goods have a price lower than $20. The storefront model shows a variety of goods on sale such as scraping facial massage tools, arm weights, and mobile phone cases. The company said that this arrangement can save the cost of Amazon's Chinese sellers, and businesses can also test new products through small batch production.
Amazon and other retail giants in the United States are struggling to deal with the rapid rise of Temu under Pinduoduo and the online fashion retailer Shein. These two companies attract customers with large discounts, and Temu also advertises heavily on TV and social media.
In addition, Amazon began cutting the low-cost clothing sales fees charged to merchants this year, which is seen as an attempt to compete with Shein's low-cost clothing.